Combined glazing and weather stripping



Feb. 13, 1962 P. 0| LEMME COMBINED GLAZING AND WEATHER STRIPPING Filed Jan. 21, 1960 IN VEN TOR.

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11p DlLemme j I ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,020,605 COMBINED GLAZING AND WEATHER STRIPPING Philip Di Lemme, Bronxville, N.Y. Pamco Awning Corp., Rte. 46, Pine Brook, NJ.) Filed Jan. 21, 1960, Ser. No. 3,752 8 Claims. (Cl. 2056) This invention relates to window and the like sashes and particularly to the rail installation of such sashes wherein glazing strips and weather stripping are employed.

Flexible glazing strips of suitable material such as vinyl plastic for window sashes are known. However, such strips have failed heretofore to effect sealing of the the slidable sash against the fixed frame of the window, necessitating the use of additional means for weather proofing the sash against leakage therepast of rain, wind and snow. Such glazing strips have, furthermore, been inserted into and releasably locked to the rail of the frame by movement thereof in a direction parallel to the plane of the window pane, thereby making difficult the effective locking of the strip in place.

The present invention therefore contemplates the pro-- vision of a simple one piece flexible and resilient sealing strip properly shaped and suitably held in the sash rail to serve as a combined glazing strip and weather stripping element, thereby not only effectively holding the window pane in its sash but also sealing the window frame at three sides to the sash, and when the window is closed, sealing the sash at the fourth side to the adjacent side.

The invention further contemplates the provision of a metallic or the like rail for the sash frame, the rail being open at the outer or outdoor side thereof and at one edge and provided with a suitable pocket having a constricted entrance opening, whereby the sealing strip may readily be inserted and effectively but releasably locked in the sash rail by a lateral movement perpendicular to the plane of the window pane.

The invention further contemplates the provision of a sash rail installation comprising a rail member and a relatively wide one piece flexible resilient member biased to exert sealing and holding pressure on the Window pane at one side edge portion of the member and to exert sealing pressure in the opposite direction at the opposite edge portion thereof on the frame of the window.

. The various objects of the invention will be clear from the description which follows and from the drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a fragmentary combined perspective and sectional view of a corner portion of one sash, as well as of part of a cooperating adjacent sash and of part of the window frame in which the sash slides.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of an upright rail installation including the sealing strip and showing said strip partly assembled to the rail member. 7

FIG. 3 is a similar view of the completely assembled rail installation mounted for sliding movement in a window frame.

FIG. 4 is a similar view of a sealing strip of somewhat modified cross sectional shape, showing in dash-dot lines the distorted shape assumed thereby when in its operative position.

In the embodiment of the invention here shown as illustrative thereof, the invention is applied to the three sash window frame 10, though it will be understood that it may equally well be applied to any suitable window. As shown, the frame is provided with three stepped grooves 11, 12 and 13 each offset from the other and defined by the flanges 14, 15, 16 and 17. Against the edge of each one of the flanges slides a sash. The longer "ice one of two flanges for each groove prevents the sash, a known manner, from tilting outwardly excessively.

Only two of the three sashes are shown in FIG. 1. The

upper right hand rail (not shown) of the middle sash,

as viewed in FIG. 1 abuts against and slides vertically along and in contact with the edge 18 of the flange 15 in the same manner as the corresponding rail 19 of the outer sash 20 slides in contact with the upright edge 21 of the flange 16.

Since the rail installation is an important feature of the invention, being substantially identical on all four sides of the sash, the two elements of such installation, namely the rail member and the sealing strip, will now be described in detail. As has beenindicated, the sealing strip 25 is made of a single piece of flexible and resilient material such as vinyl plastic which can be extruded of said body portion is generally'convex and the inner' surfaces 27 and 28 are concave more or less. The horns of the crescent or in other words, the edge portions of the strip are reduced in thickness to yield under pressure more easily than the middle part of the strip, from which part projects the laterally extending tongue 30. The

outer surface 26 may be considerably varied in shape and curvature for ornamental or other purposes, or as' shown in FIG. 4, may even consist of a number of intersecting substantially plane surfaces. At the innermost part of the tongue is the enlarged bulbous head or bead 31. Recesses 32 and 33 are formed at the base of the tongue on opposite sides thereof and where the tongue meets the body portion for the locking purposes soon to be described.

To render the peripheral edge parts effective to exert pressure in opposite directions and thereby to accomplish their respective glazing and weather proofing functions, the part. 34 along one side edge of the strip is shaped and biased to engage and press inwardly against the outer surface of the window pane 35 thereby to hold the pane in place against the free edge portion of the inner leg 36 of the rail member 19. Said free edge portion constitutes the backing for the pane. The other side edge part 37 of the strip 25 is of lesser thickness than that of the opposite edges part 34 to impart considerable flexibility thereto. Projecting integrally and outwardly from the edge part 37 and at an acute angle to the body portion is the relatively thin flap 38, forming withthe edge part 37 a V-shaped portion hinging aboutfthe base ,of the tongue 30.on the application of inward pressure to the flap. The flap collapses more or less against the edge part 37 undersuch pressure as shown in FIG. 3 and by the dash-dot lines of FIG. 4. Normally, the flap 38 is biased outwardly thereby to exert outward pressure on that part of the window frame engaged thereby for sealing purposes when partly collapsed.

The rail is typical of all of the rails of the sash and is preferably, though not necessarily, in the form of an aluminum extrusion. It comprises the relatively wide main inner leg 36 having the edge flange or edge leg 41 outstanding substantially perpendicularly therefrom and having an additional pair of parallel spaced apart walls 42 and 43 outstanding perpendicularly from the inner leg 36 at points intermediate of'the ends of the leg. The relatively short edge leg 41 is wider than the wall 42, said wall 42 being in turn wider than the wall 43. Both 'walls form. a pocket 44 therebetween for the reception of the tongue head 31, the pocket having a constricted entrance opening at the outer side thereof. To constrict the opening, a bead 46 having preferably rounded edges to avoid cutting of,

the sealing strip, extends from the outer edge of the wall 42 toward the wall 43 and a similar bead 47 extends from the outer edge of the wall 43 toward the wall 42, the beads being thereby arranged at unequal distances from the inner leg 36.

Similarly, a narrow lip 48 having a bevelled edge, projects from the outer edge of the leg 41 toward the wall 42 to eonstrict the entrance to the space or pocket 49 between the edge leg and the wall 42 and to aid in maintaining the V-shaped edge part of the strip including the flap 38 in its proper operative position wherein part of the flap is arranged outwardly past the lip and part inwardly of the lip (FIG. 3).

To assemble the rail elements 19 and 25, the bead 31 of the tongue 30 of the strip is inserted between the beads 46 and 47 at the opening to the pocket 44 as shown in FIG. 2. At this time, the tip of the edge part 37 of the strip and the V-shaped periphery of said part may be outside of the lip 48 as shown by the dash-dot lines of FIG. 2. But when lateral pressure is exerted on the tongue, the edge part 37 snaps past and inside of the lip 48 into the position of the full lines of FIG. 2 and toward the position shown in FIG. 3. On the exertion of sufficient lateral pressure in the direction of the arrow of FIG. 2 on the middle part of the body portion of the strip and consequently on the tongue, the head 31 of the tongue also snaps past the beads 46 and 47 into the pocket 44 and said beads enter the respective recesses 32 and 33 at the base of the tongue to lock the strip in place against accidental removal.

It will be understood that by properly proportioning the respective widths of the walls 43 and 42, the strip may be twisted as much or little as may be required in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3 during its entrance into the pocket. Firm holding and sealing contact of the edge part 34 with the pane 35 is thereby assured even with panes varying considerably in thickness, the part 34 flexing outwardly about the wall of the recess 33 as a hinge point on excess pressure thereon.

Similarly, outward weather proofing pressure of the flap 38 upon the adjacent flange as of the window frame in a direction opposite to that exerted by the strip part 34, is also assured owing to the flexibility of the flap and the biasing thereof initially outwardly. The strips on the four rails of each sash are mitered at the joints 50 thereof (FIG. 1). The flaps remain in contact with and seal the space between the sash and the window frame on three sides when the sash is closed. On the fourth side of each sash, a horizontal rail of the sash is sealed against the adjacent horizontal rail of the adjacent sash. As shown in FIG. 1, the lower rail of the outer sash is weather sealed against the upper rail of the middle sash by means of the flap 38 of the sealing strip of said upper rail.

Should it become necessary to remove or replace the window pane of any sash, the tongue of an end part of a strip 25 is pried out of its pocket 44, whereafter said end part is merely pulled outwardly to withdraw the strip and to release the pane or the remains thereof. It will be noted that the flap 38 does not interfere with the sliding movement of the sash in the window frame, since the flap merely slides along the frame during such movement and maintains its sealing action regardless of where the sash may be set in the frame, as when ventilation is desired. Nor does the sealing flap interfere with the pivotal movement of the sash in the frame in those cases where the sash is mounted forv swinging inwardly in a known manner.

It will now be seen that there has been hereby provided a simple, inexpensive and easily, quickly and efliciently assembled rail installation including a combined glazing and weather sealing strip well designed to carry out its intended purposes. While certain specific forms of the invention have herein been shown and described, various obvious changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a rail installation for a window sash, a one piece rail member comprising a relatively wide continuous flat inner leg extending throughout the width of the member, a relatively narrow side edge leg arranged longitudinally along one edge of the member, the opposite longitudinal side edge of the member being free, and a pair of spaced apart parallel walls parallel and in spaced relation to and of lesser width than the edge leg and projecting outwardly from and between the edge leg and the opposite side edge of the wide leg, said walls and wide leg forming two adjacent pockets, the first being a three-sided pocket intermediate and in transverse spaced relation to the side edges of the wide leg, the pocket being open at the outer part thereof, a head on the outer end edge of each wall constricting the entrance to the pocket, and a lip on the outer edge of the edge leg parallel and in transverse spaced relation to the wide leg and extending part way toward the adjacent one of the walls to form the second three-sided pocket with a constricted opening at the outer side thereof and between the edge leg and the adjacent beaded wall.

2. The rail installation of claim 1, the edge leg being wider than the adjacent wall and said adjacent wall being wider than the other wall, the first pocket being adapted to receive loosely one side edge portion of a sealing strip and the second pocket being adapted to receive inside of the beads and lock therein between the beads thereof a headed tongue extending from such strip, the remainder of the inner leg beyond the other wall being adapted to engage the marginal part of a window pane.

3. The rail installation of claim 1, and a flexible resilient sealing strip comprising a yieldable V-shaped side edge portion having one leg entering movably part way into the second pocket and having a second leg projecting beyond the pocket, a second side edge portion adapted to exert inward pressure on the outer face of a window pane arranged with its outer face in contact with that part of the wide leg beyond the pockets, and an inwardly projecting tongue having an enlarged head of greater thickness than the distance between the beads of said walls and having a constricted base, the tongue being arranged in the first pocket with the beads engaging the base.

4. A one piece flexible combined glazing and weather strip comprising a substantially crescent shaped body portion having oppositely extending horns and of greater overall width than the greatest thickness thereof, a flap extending at an acute angle from one edge of one born to form a V-shaped edge part on the strip, said flap extending outwardly to a point beyond the body portion and a tongue projecting laterally inwardly from between the edges of the strip and from a face of the body portion oppositely from the flap, the tongue having an enlarged bulbous head and a constricted base.

5. The combined strip of claim 4, the base of the tongue having a recess along each side, the recess on one side being a greater distance from the end edge of the tongue than the other recess.

6. A rail installation for a window sash comprising a rail member having an inner leg and a side edge leg and being open at the outer side thereof and at the side edge opposite the edge leg, a pair of parallel walls of unequal length projecting outwardly from the inner leg in transverse spaced relation to the edge leg and to that side edge of the inner leg opposite the edge leg, each wall terminating in a bead constricting the space between the free end edges of the walls to form two adjacent pockets and a pane-receiving space behind the walls, and a sealing strip comprising a generally crescent shaped body portion having a glazing side edge portion entering the pane-receiving space and an oppositely disposed V-shaped sealing edge portion having an apex loosely entering the pocket formed by the side leg and a wall, and adapted to move further into the pocket on excessive pressure on said V-shaped portion by an adjacent window member, and a tongue forced into the pocket between the walls and locked in place by the beads of said walls.

7. A rail installation for a window sash comprising a rail member having an inner leg, a side edge leg and two substantially parallel walls of unequal width projecting substantially perpendicularly from the inner leg, the walls being in spaced relation to each other and to both edges of the inner leg and forming a first pocket therebetween open at the side opposite the inner leg, a bead on the free end edge of each of the walls extending toward the bead of the other wall and constricting the entrance opening into the pocket, a lip parallel to the inner leg and on the end edge of the side leg constricting the entrance opening and a second pocket formed between said side leg, the adjacent one of the walls and the inner leg, and a one piece flexible resilient combined glazing and weather strip having a body portion extending past the first pocket in both directions and entering the second pocket inside of the lip, said strip having a tongue projecting laterally from between the side edges of the body portion and terminating in an enlarged bulbous head of greater maximum thickness than the distance between the beads of the first pocket, the tongue being forced by a lateral movement into the first pocket past the beads, and sealing means on a side edge part of the body portion extending in part outwardly past the lip and past the body portion and in part extending inwardly past the lip and toward the side leg of the rail, said sealing means being sufficiently smaller than the second pocket to move further thereinto on excessive pressure thereon by the rail of an adjacent sliding window sash.

8. In a window installation having a window frame and a pair of sashes slidably mounted in said frame, a

rectangular sash frame having two horizontal and two vertical sash rails, the rails being similar to each other and each having two pockets, a window pane in the sash frame, and means for weather sealing both vertical and one horizontal rail of the sash frame to the window frame and for sealing the other horizontal rail to an adjacent horizontal rail of the other sash frame when the window is closed, said means having the additional function of maintaining the pane against the rails and being in the form of elongated flexible strips each having a projecting bulbous tongue locked in one of the pockets of the adjacent rail, an end part beyond the pockets shaped to engage and urge a marginal part of the pane inwardly toward the rail and an opposite end part having a portion thereof inserted into the second pocket and movable therein under the pressure of the window frame or the pressure of an adjacent sash, the opposite end part having another portion projecting from the pocket and urged outwardly, the outwardly urged end parts carried by the vertical rails engaging the window frame at all times, the outwardly urged end part carried by one horizontal rail engaging a horizontal rail of the adjacent sash when the window is closed.

References Cited in the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS 

